Image: Getty.
Ricki-Lee Coulter was heading out to an event last week when, like many of us would, she shared a photo of her makeup on Facebook.
Unfortunately, in what has become almost inevitable for any high-profile woman with a social media presence, the critics were quick to show up and they were armed with plenty of unsolicited body commentary. Some asked the singer whether she’d lost more weight, while others accused her of being “too skinny” and looking “sick”.
“The funny part is that I just spent three months travelling around Europe on my honeymoon and hardly exercised, but ate EVERYTHING I wanted… and I’m probably about five or six kilos heavier than usual,” Coulter quipped in a response she posted last night.
Body shaming on social media is a plague that just won’t go away, and the 29-year-old is never afraid to take her own bullies to task. However, Coulter’s post last night was prompted by “a bucketload of comments” left on a recent photo shared by Kayla Itstines. The fitness guru was labelled “too skinny” and “anorexic”, with some followers telling her she’d “gone too far”.
"This is a woman who has built a business helping women get fit and healthy - and is an inspiration to millions of people around the world. Yet people can't help but criticise the way she looks," Coulter wrote.
The All We Need is Love singer went on to question what motivates commenters to behave like this, and we must say she hit the nail thoroughly on the head.
"I'm genuinely concerned about why we have this culture that breeds negativity on social media and I am constantly baffled as to why people feel the need to comment nasty and negative things," she wrote.
"You wouldn't go up to a person in real life and tell them you think they're outfit is ugly or that they're too skinny or that they're fat ... you wouldn't have the balls to go and say those things to someone's face because it's incredibly rude." (Post continues after gallery.)
Celebrities respond to body shaming.
A popular retort to this sentiment is the ol', 'But they're celebrities, they put themselves out there, they have to expect this!' Well, no.
Certainly, women like Kayla Itstines and Ricki-Lee Coulter have thousands of followers and attract a lot more public interest than the rest of us do, but they're also human beings and shouldn't be exempt from being treated with basic decency.
"People think just because I post something that it's your right to tell me you think I look too skinny or that you hate my outfit or my make up and that you preferred when I was chubby. And of course you're entitled to your opinion ... you just don't need to leave a comment about it on someone's page," Coulter continued.
"I just think as women we need to rally around each other and be positive and supportive of each other, instead of always ripping each other apart and tearing each other down."
Itstines also took a moment to address her body critics and urgeed them to "empower each other" rather than "destroy one another".
"I am actually the fittest, healthiest and the happiest I've EVER been. I've said it before and I'll say it again, anorexia is a serious condition, I wish people would stop using it loosely to describe smaller women," the Bikini Body Guides maven wrote.
"Further, you cannot judge someone on a single photo from one angle. You don't know their story ... All I ask is that you think before you speak (or type), because your words have more impact than you know."
Right on. Body shamers, are you listening? Because this is getting ridiculous.
Have you ever been made to feel bad about your body?